mrmike

John, I am not a member of the Granite State Modelers. I had checked them out, but I chose to join Classic Plastic Model Club instead. With no offense to GSM, I picked the fun club!

So do I, Dan. This one has been sitting on the bench since mid August and I want it off the bench. The hard part is waiting for everything to dry enough so I can handle the model without fear of messing up the finish.

Thanks Ben! I foiled and clearcoated the Cougar this morning. I applied the hood stripe decal and I will clearcoat the hood after the decal has had sufficient time to dry. More to come...

John, I bought my Mopar Turquoise and Street Hemi Orange Engine Paint from Summit Racing several years ago. The idea of an open head with the exposed valvetrain is good, but alas, I do not have the patience or the skill for creating it. The model club you inquired about is called the Granite State Modelers and they are still in existence today. Here's the link to their website. http://home.comcast.net/~vf84/

Thanks Lee and John! It sure is nice to see some "locals" on the forum! If you are interested, I belong to the Classic Plastic Model Club and we meet one Saturday a month at the Lowell VFW in Lowell, Mass. I know it may be a bit of a hike from Concord, NH, but we would love to have you visit us and bring along some of your builds for "Show-N-Tell". Click the link in my signature for more info. I painted the engine block this morning with Mopar Turquoise Engine Enamel. There is a Hemi engine in this kit along with an engine stand, so I have decide to assemble and paint both to display with the Charger. The Hemi is painted with Mopar Street Hemi Orange Engine Enamel. More Mopar to come...

Thanks guys for following! Thanks for the offer of the decals Byron. I doubt I'll need them, but it's good to have a back if I do. Sorry John. No story with this build, but I do appreciate your interest in my stories. I am currently working on a story for a New Hampshire State Police Dodge Charger, but that may not come around until next year. Brandon, don't give away the plot! Actually, there is no Vanishing Point story in the works. Sorry!

My new project is Revell's '68 Charger R/T. I debated with myself if I was going to use the 440 or the 426 Hemi and the 440 won out. Currently, I have a '68 Hemi Charger R/T and a '69 Hemi Charger SE on the shelf and one '68 Charger R/T with a 440. The kit I am using I bought back in '08 when the kit was issued and I had bought two with one being used for a Build Off with my Canadian friend, Randy. This build may be used for next years' Classic Plastic Model Club Challenge...Mopars! The kit...Revell 1968 Dodge Charger R/T kit #85-4202. I am using a set of Cragar SS mags from the Revell '67 Charger kit and the paint will be Tamiya TS-54 Light Metallic Blue. The interior will be the same blue with dark blue inserts on the seats. I guess you could describe my model as a "Day 2 car", a term I do not like. I will use my sewing pin technique for a more realistic side marker. More Mopar to come...

I know how you feel Carl! It is time for the Cougar to get off the bench, but the enamel paint takes sooo long to cure and I don't really want to touch it until it has had significant time to harden..

Thanks Brandon and Carl! Brandon, good luck on your new projects! I've built both kits. After a bit of light polishing, I applied another coat of Testors #1628 Competition Orange. I want to get this model off the bench and soon! I just need the time to work on it! More to come...

Thanks guys! I originally thought that this was a '65 Barracuda, but further research showed me that I was wrong. It is a '66. Another disaster! I had applied decals and carefully clearcoated the body with Testors Ultragloss Clearcoat after an hour or so, I glued in the rear glass and used a pair of clothespins to hold the glass while the clear parts cement dried. I removed the clothespins later in the day and it removed the clear and the black enamel down to the gold enamel underneath. I sanded the spots smooth and masked the body to repaint the black enamel on the roof. Here's the body with the masking removed. Looks pretty good to me. Disaster averted. I painted the wheelie stand with Tamiya TS-6 Matt Black. Almost finished. More to come...

Thanks Russell and Carl! This is the FULL decal sheet for the HUG. Hmmm...decisions, decisions. This was in the Lindberg Little Red Wagon kit. I think I'll use it with the HUG. Oh yeah!!! I'll paint it up and display it under the HUG. More to come...

Thanks Joe! I got the body foiled today. There's more foil needed on here than I thought there would be! The grille has been detailed with The Detailer black wash. A mockup to see how it's looking! Decals are next along with touchups and clearcoat. More to come...

Thanks guys! This is a cool subject, but the kit itself is so-so with a low parts count. The chassis is nearly complete. I am considering raising the front suspension for a more nose up attitude. I assembled the kit headers. I had to shorten one side about 1/8th of an inch to match the other side. I repainted the body with Testors 1244 Gold Metallic enamel. I was amazed at how fast it dried to the touch! After about an hour of measuring and masking, I painted the body with Model Master #2921 Classic Black. After painting the resin bumpers with the Classic Black, I shot them with several coats of Alclad II Chrome paint. More to come...

I know, I know, I know... I do appreciate the info, Fred! But, when I compare the AMT engine block with the Revell Mustang Mach I engine block and they are the same size, then to me, they are the same size big block engine. I also used what was in the box for engine parts since I can't be bothered ordering pieces for a so-so kit like this Cougar. If the correct pieces were in the kit to begin with, then that would be a different story. I am making do with what I have and what I have here is not what I would call a very accurate kit to begin with...just look at the chassis with its GM style front inner fenders! Not accurate.

Thanks Luis, Carl, and Jeremy! I finally finished the interior. The engine is complete and installed into the chassis. Proof that this is a 428 Cobra Jet! More to come...

Thank you all for the nice remarks for my Road Runner and the story! I wanted something basic looking and I had just started putting together my story and thought the two would work well together. Having the necessary components (auto trans, tire graphics, paint) handy really helped with the build. The story grew substantially on its own and is significantly longer than what I had posted here. I have always maintained that the story is kept short and the build takes priority, but I do appreciate the requests for more story. I am very satisfied with the outcome of both the build and the story. Thanks!

Thanks Ron and Carl! My Local Hobby Shop had their 30% off sale today and I picked up a bunch of paint for future projects and found a can of Testors Gold Metallic #1244. If the cap is any indication of the color inside the can, this color is closer to the gold on the HUG. I'll test it on a plastic spoon and see what the actual color is. Chassis, interior, and roll bar in mockup. The engine is partially assembled and installed in the subframe at this point. The completed interior. Distributor, plug wires, and velocity stacks installed. Another mockup to check on the fit. More to come...

My pleasure Dan! The original story that I had written is much longer and has more detail than I am allowed to post here or on any other forum. If I was able to post the original story, I'm sure you would enjoy it more.

Thanks guys! The Story After being told by the doctor that he had a fractured rib and to rest, McNally is discharged from the hospital and stops at the Mass. State Trooper barracks to give a statement to Capt. Ferrow. Capt. Ferrow is glad that McNally is ok and he apologizes for botching the first attempt at capturing Danka. McNally accepts the apology and leaves the barracks for the long painful trip back to Boston. After a few days of resting, McNally is getting restless and spends some time each day at Vic's Garage working on the Road Runner. The engine and trans has been pulled out of the car and the trans will be repaired be Vic's transmission expert and the cylinder heads will be sent out to have hardened valve seats installed. The following Spring finds much has happened to McNally. Vic is too busy at the garage to help McNally anymore, Ruben Sinkowski quit his kindergarten teaching job for an assistant coaching job with the NFL, and Caitlyn Scotsen has left McNally and Boston for a job working for the US Attorney General's Office in Washington, DC. Tonight, he drives to a local Back Bay Burger restaurant for a burger and a car show. He parks the newly completed Road Runner in a spot between a '55 Chevy and a '32 Ford hot rod. He opens the hood and walks into the restaurant and gets his burger and a drink and sits at the window looking out at the parking lot and sees a small crowd of people around the Road Runner and he thinks that maybe, things are starting to turn around for him. McNally will return... The Build I have completed my '70 Road Runner and it is posted in Under Glass. I would like to thank all those who have taken the time to view and to comment on my build!

This is my '70 383 Road Runner painted with Tamiya TS-54 Light Metallic Blue with a matching interior, 383 Road Runner engine with a TorqueFlite Automatic Transmission, Shabo Tire Graphics, and Road Runner decals from Keith Marks.

Thanks guys! A quiet Sunday morning, it's raining outside, the wife and the dogs are sleeping so I came down to the hobby room to do some painting by firing up the paintbooth. I painted the body with Testors One Coat Lacquer Inca Gold which is more yellow-gold than the actual gold paint on the HUG. I have seen many pictures of the HUG during my research and found several paint schemes in various colors. I've decided to throw license to the wind and use the Inca Gold. When that has dried, I'll mask the body and paint it with gloss black. The other parts have been painted with ColorPlace Flat Black. More to come...

Thanks guys! Dan, I didn't need to take breaks, I had other things I needed do as the day went on. The Story McNally pulls onto the empty lot and sees a man holding a rifle aimed at him. He stops about 75 feet away from the man and slowly gets out of his Shelby GT500 with the box containing the Colt .45 and the money and places it on the ground on the passenger side of the car. Danka tells McNally to get rid of his gun, using two fingers he pulls the Smith & Wesson from his shoulder holster and throws the gun behind him. Danka then fires the rifle and the bullet hits McNally squarely in the chest and he falls backwards over the hood of the Shelby. Lying on the ground, he pushes himself through the pain in his chest and reaches for his ankle just as Danka rounds the front of the car and McNally pulls his Walther PPKs from the ankle holster and shoots Danka in the leg and then, in the shoulder releasing the rifle from his grip. Danka falls onto the ground screaming in pain as McNally gets up slowly, picks up his Smith & Wesson and places it into his shoulder holster. McNally cuffs the assassin and with him watching, McNally unbuttons his shirt revealing a kevlar vest. He pulls his cellphone out and calls State Police Capt. Ferrow for assistance. Ferrow sends out several troopers and an ambulance and he arrives shortly thereafter. After the EMTs take care of Danka, they encourage McNally to get check out at the hospital, which the Boston PI agrees to. The Build Time to install the glass. I removed the front and rear windows from the runners and installed them separately. After installing the glass, I permanently installed the interior. McNally will return...

This kit has been in the stash for some time now and I wanted something different to build. The kit box art shows a '69 Barracuda but the kit actually contains a '65 Barracuda body. The body is in process of being cleaned up and I have assembled the base engine assembly. The intake manifold is from the Lindberg Little Red Wagon. My paints will be Testors One Coat Lacquer Inca Gold, Alclad II Gloss Black and Alclad II Chrome paint for the chrome parts I had replaced to build my MCW Resin '66 Barracuda. More to come...

After not looking at the Cougar for about 2 weeks, I painted the body and hood this morning with Testors #1628 Competition Orange. Since this is an enamel paint, it'll sit for at least a week before I do anything else to it. More to come...